


Insomnia

by wolfgun



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-20 00:28:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7383619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfgun/pseuds/wolfgun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Do you… Do you ever just… miss everything?” When Keith looked over at Lance, he was surprised to see the boy gazing up, an oddly uncharacteristic sadness and longing in his eyes. It took him a while to answer.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” he murmured, looking down.</p>
<p>“Coran showed me once… how far away we were. From Earth, I mean.” Lance sighed, and Keith heard, more than saw, him run his hands through his short brown hair. His voice grew softer. “We’re so far. We’re so, so far away…”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Insomnia

Keith knew the instant his head hit the mattress that it would be a long, long night. He was tired as hell, sure; but that didn’t stop his insomnia from rearing its ugly head. Still, he gave sleep a chance, thinking maybe after a tough day of fighting, forming Voltron, and being diplomats, his body would pull him to sleep.

 

He was wrong, of course.

 

After about an hour and a half of tossing and turning, he slipped into the hallway. Keith walked quietly around, not really having any destination; his shadow soft and weak under the dim Altean blue lights.

 

The castle was big. Ship? Castle? Castle-ship. It was really big; bigger than he thought. He ended up getting quite lost for a time; which wasn’t really a surprise, since he had just been mindlessly wandering. Eventually, though, he found himself in front of the control room.

 

The double doors zipped open with a soft hiss, and he stepped inside. It felt a lot different without Coran or Allura here--it felt a lot different being here  _ alone. _ He pursed his lips, glancing at the controls, wondering if he should even attempt to take a look at the huge hologram of the universe.

 

Sighing, he sat down. It would be better  _ not _ to wake everyone in the middle of the night with an alarm blaring. So, he opted to gaze at the stars currently floating past the ship.

 

He tried not to delve into that homesickness deep in his mind; but honestly, how could he not? Even when he had nothing waiting for him except an empty shack and beat-up hoverbike, he still missed that hellhole called Earth. Just because he hated the people on it didn’t mean he was glad to be millions of thousands of hundreds of miles from… well, home.

 

Keith’s brow furrowed slightly; if he was missing Earth like this, the others must be aching for it. He didn’t have family like the others did; he still felt bad for telling Pidge off that one time about finding his family.

 

The people on this ship--the Voltron team, defenders of the universe (Keith scoffed softly)--they were the closest thing to family he had. And that wasn’t saying much.

 

As much as he missed Earth, he didn’t particularly want to go back. Going back would mean returning to the shack, under the hot desert sun; the cold nights… He huffed, burying his face in his knees. He’s gotten used to this. The constant activity, the companionship.

 

He jumped as he heard the door to the control room open, jerking his head up to glance at the person who just entered.

 

“Keith?”

 

Of  _ course  _ it had to be Lance. But his initial annoyance subsided when he noticed Lance’s hunched shoulders and tired eyes. He watched as the other boy stepped lightly toward him, then seemed to hesitate.

 

“Ah, you… What are you doing up?”

 

“I could say the same to you,” Keith retorted, crossing his arms over his knees. When Lance didn’t answer, he relented. “...I couldn’t sleep.”

 

“Neither,” the blue paladin sighed, and sat down next to him.

 

They sat like that for a while, the space between enough to not be awkward, but not far enough to be really awkward. Keith eventually looked back up around the dome, watching the twinkling of the stars.

 

He used to do that when he was in the desert, too; when he couldn’t sleep, he’d find himself crawling up to the roof and laying out on the still-warm shingles. He used to find comfort in how constant space looked from that house; nothing ever changed in it besides the position of the stars.

 

But now that he was  _ in space _ , battling a tyrannical purple cat-alien… he realized just how transient the universe was. 

 

It both terrified him and, in some way, comforted him. How he could feel both at once… well, he didn’t actually know. 

 

“Do you… Do you ever just… miss everything?” When Keith looked over at Lance, he was surprised to see the boy gazing up, an oddly uncharacteristic sadness and longing in his eyes. It took him a while to answer.

 

“Yeah,” he murmured, looking down.

 

“Coran showed me once… how far away we were. From Earth, I mean.” Lance sighed, and Keith heard, more than saw, him run his hands through his short brown hair. His voice grew softer. “We’re so far. We’re so, so far away…”

 

Keith closed his eyes, trying to imagine what it’d be like having a family. Imagining what it would be like for them finding out he disappeared. Imagining what it’d be like to miss them. He sighed, when he couldn’t.

 

“Do you… ever miss your family?” It was a stupid question for Keith to ask, because,  _ of course _ Lance missed his family. He felt bad for asking when Lance’s shoulders went rigid.

 

“I… Yeah, I do.” He looked sideways at Keith, but didn’t quite meet his eyes. “I miss my mom and her cooking, and my annoying siblings. And the beach, and the air. Rain, even. I hated rain. But now, what I would give to see it…” He trailed off.

 

“I always liked the rain,” Keith said, lamely. “I mean, being in a desert for a long time, rain was a blessing.”

 

“Yeah, I can imagine.” Silence enveloped the two.

 

“Didn’t you… I mean,” Lance hesitated. “I don’t want to… I--”

 

“Just spit it out.”

 

“Fine,” he huffed. “You… where’s your family?” Keith immediately froze, his eyes flicking away, and his jaw working. “Sorry--you don’t have to answer, I just--”

 

“They’re gone,” he said, and he flinched as his voice wavered. He didn’t offer anything more, and was glad when Lance didn’t ask.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s… It’s fine. It’s like…” Keith frowned, running his hands through his hair. “It was a long time ago. Don’t feel bad about it.”

 

“Yeah but… I always talk about my family, and…”

 

“Lance. You obviously love your family. I’m not gonna be an asshole and tell you to shut the fuck up just because I don’t have one.”

 

For a minute, the other boy seemed to be stunned into silence. Keith shifted, clenching and unclenching his teeth. Leave it to Lance to make things odd.

 

“...Thanks.”

 

“Don’t mention it.”

 

“You… what keeps you up at night?”

 

“What’s with the sudden interest in me?”

 

“I just--you’re always awake. Like I’ve never seen you sleep.”

 

“You wouldn’t see me sleep, anyway.” At this, Lance puffed out a sigh.

 

“If you didn’t want to answer then you could just say, ‘I’d rather not talk about it’ instead of being an ass.” Keith looked away.

 

“I just... don’t sleep often.” He frowned, trying to remember if anything caused it. Honestly, he might’ve had nightmares when he was little, and might’ve stayed up late thinking about his parents… but now, it was just a dull ache that kept his body from resting.

 

“Insomnia?” Lance watched Keith’s head bob once in confirmation.

 

“Chronic.”

 

“Whenever… I mean, when my little siblings couldn’t sleep or… had a nightmare, they would always come to my room.” Lance smiled at the memory. It was a soft, wistful smile. For some reason, it made Keith’s chest hurt, just to see it. “I would wake up sometimes, with them piled on top of me.”

 

“That sounds… nice,” Keith murmured, resting his chin on his forearms. “I remember I used to… do that too. With my parents.” For the longest time after, he had only ever been by himself.

 

“Well, if you… I mean,” Lance clicked his tongue, rubbing at his eyes. “If you want to try and sleep, you can… always come to my room… or something.” He gave a yawn, and then seemed to realize what he said. “I mean--if you want, it might help you sleep--because I know I have trouble sleeping without a body next to me, and well--it might help both of us out, so--”

 

“Lance, chill.” Keith looked up lazily towards the other boy, debating on whether to tease him or not. He smirked. “If you really wanted to sleep with me that badly, you could’ve just asked, y’know.”

 

“That’s not--God, you--!” He couldn’t help but snicker at the bright red that crossed Lance’s face. Lance groaned. “Fine then, do whatever you want, forget it. I’m going to sleep.” 

 

He stood up swiftly, stomping out of the room, and Keith had maybe an  _ ounce _ of regret about it. A moment later, the red paladin stood; briefly stretching and turning to follow Lance. Even if Lance was annoying, and irritating, and they got in too many fights to count--Keith wouldn’t mind if they had that sort of arrangement. That thought frustrated him a bit, though; but more out of fear than anything else, he guessed.

 

Lance was turned towards the wall when Keith walked in, blankets thrown haphazardly around him. He squawked when he saw Keith walking towards him, then immediately turned angry.

 

“You--you made fun of me for it, and yet here you are! Asshole!”

 

“Shut up, and move over.” Lance glared, but in the end made room; Keith took it, but hesitated on realizing how  _ close _ they would be. The blue paladin seemed to realize this, because he yanked the other boy down. Their heads knocked together, and for a good few minutes, they held their heads while groaning.

 

“Next time,” Keith hissed, “Don’t fucking do that.”

 

“Yeah, ok. Learned my lesson.”

 

Lance still pulled Keith really close; to fit both of them on the bed, comfortably, they had to be tucked into each other. Keith was beginning to think this was a huge mistake.

 

“You’re like… super warm,” Lance muttered from somewhere above Keith’s head. “Like, y’know, the fire from the red lion must be burning within you or some shit.”

 

“And you’re like, way colder than I thought. But I think that’s just you.”

 

“Hey.”

 

After that, Keith gradually relaxed. He felt the last days’ unrest hit him like a freight truck; his body started to feel heavy, and his eyes slipped closed. He listened to Lance’s steady breathing for a while, a bit embarrassed at the situation, but at the same time, glad about it.

 

Then, finally, sleep took him.

 

{--+--}

 

When he woke up, he and Lance were even closer. He didn’t really know when that happened; but he blamed it on Lance. He sighed, trying to blink away the lingering exhaustion.

 

“You awake?”

 

Keith jerked his head up so fast, he hit Lance square in the jaw.

 

“Ow! Fuck, dude,” he whined, moving away and holding his chin. “I mean, damn, I know you don’t like me, but--”

 

“I never said that,” Keith huffed, his head throbbing. “Sorry. You surprised me.”

 

“ _ You’re  _ the one sleeping with  _ me _ ,” Lance muttered. “If anything, it should be the other way around.”

 

“Whatever, Vanilla Ice.”

 

“Vanilla Ice? What the fuck dude I’m not white.” He sounded legitimately offended. “I  _ can  _ handle my spices, and if anyone’s ‘vanilla’ it’s Pidge.”

 

“Whatever, fine. Ice Man, then.”

 

“I prefer--”

 

The door opened, just then, and Lance pushed Keith from the bed. Pidge stood in the doorway, staring at the situation for a brief moment before realization dawned on his face. He quickly took out his phone, snapping several pictures.

 

“H-Hey! Pidge, what the hell do you think you’re--”

 

“Hunk! Come look at this!” He turned away, walking down the hall. Keith groaned from the floor, briefly dazed.

 

“God, you fucking asshole! Why the hell did you push me out?” He scrambled up, glaring at Lance. His face was quickly turning cherry red, the same color of his lion.

 

“Pidge took a picture!”

 

“You--you didn’t have to  _ shove me-- _ ”

 

“Well I--It’s because--”

 

“Oh my god!” Hunk bellowed down the hall, and a moment later skidded to the open door to see both Keith and Lance. “You two slept together?”

 

“No, Hunk--Not  _ that  _ kind of sleep--It was just--” Lance’s words had no impact. 

 

“Twenty dollars, Hunk. Cough it up,” Pidge held out his hand, and Hunk groaned loudly.

 

“Noooo…. Why couldn’t you guys’ve... “ He whined as he pulled out his wallet, slapping money into Pidge’s palm. He smirked. Lance pointed to the two of them.

 

“ _ That’s  _ why,” he sighed, defeated. Keith was now trying to hide his face in his hands, but it wasn’t helping much. His ears were bright red too. Shiro’s voice made them all stop.

 

“What’s all this?” He looked in past Pidge and Hunk, to Lance and Keith. It took him a minute, but then he broke into a wide smile. “Glad to see you two bonding.” Keith just turned away, while Lance gestured wildly, sputtering.

 

“It’s--It’s not like that, damnit--We just--Keith couldn’t sleep and came crawling to me so I--”

 

“What!? Don’t you dare blame this on me, you’re the one who suggested--”

 

“Yeah, well--You took the offer!”

 

“You made it seem like you wanted me to anyway!”

 

Lance messed up his hair, giving a strangled yell. Keith just turned away, crossing his arms.

 

“What’s all this?” Allura appeared in the doorway, and Lance just walked right up to the door, clicking it shut, and locking it. He turned back to Keith.

 

“I’m going to die,” was all he said, before floating back to his bed and face planting on it.

 

Keith just sighed, running his hand down his face, before pushing Lance over and joining him again.

**Author's Note:**

> How many times can I write Keith and Lance cuddling awkwardly together before I get tired of it?
> 
> Never.


End file.
